Many a telescope owner, after gazing at the sky for a while, wants more; wants to share what she or he is seeing. There are several ways to achieve this. The most obvious is shooting through the telescope eyepiece with a small camera or cell phone.… more »

On November 25 last, Tamron announced the launch of the successor of its very respectable 200-500mm f/5-6.3 ultra tele-zoom, the Di SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 VC USD, the first afficionado super tle at under $1500
On November 25 last, Tamron announced the launch of the succesor of it's very respectable 200-500mm f/5-6.3 ultra tele-zoom (test here), the Di SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 VC USD. What does that letter-soup stand for, you wonder? Di means “Digi… more »

If you want to quickly assert if your lenses are focusing properly, my friend Carsten recommends the “Newspaper Test”.
This works very well, he says, because we are so used to letters that we can judge “readability” much better than a certain degree of blur.
It is also the method of choice to test longer lenses at different distances, because for that both the ruler and the domino test are a bit tricky; it may be quite difficult to judge the results at a focusing distance of – say – ten meters.
If you want to quick assert more »

Now that even the most modest Nikons feature 24 Mp. sensors, optical quality and lens performance are increasingly coming under pressure.
It is no coincidence that many of the latest Nikon mid-range and top-of-the line cameras include a feature called “AF Fine Tuning” which allows users to adjust the auto focus of their sample of a particular lens to their particular camera.
Now that even the most modest Nikons feature 24 Mp. sensors, optical quality and lens performance are increasingly coming under pressure. It is no coincidence that many of the latest Nikon mid-range and top-of-the line cameras include a… more »

With the launch of the D610 Nikon replaces the D600 after a mere 13 months, allegedly to finally solve the oil and dust problem that has been plaguing the latter virtually since its introduction.
The new camera’s “suggested” retail price of $ 2.000 is slightly inferior to its predecessor, which launched on September 13, 2012 with a SRP of $ 2.100.
With the launch of the D610 Nikon replaces the D600 after less than 13 months, allegedly to finally solve the oil and dust problem that has been plaguing the latter virtually since its introduction. The new camera’s “suggested” retail price of… more »

One of the first things I did upon the arrival of my D7100, was to check if it would properly work with my GPS, because the one thing that I have been missing dearly during my recent travels was the ability to properly geo-locate my shots. Here’s what I have found.
One of the first things I did on the arrival of my D7100, was checking if it would properly work with my GPS, because the one thing I have been missing during my recent travels was the ability to properly geo-locate my shots.
Co… more »